Planning processes
This chapter describes the planning process in more detail.
The following process steps are described:
- Set up plan templates (optional)
- Initialise planning
- Carry out planning
- Approve planning
- Complete planning
1. Setting up planning templates
Setup wizard
Card
 |
| Fig. General planning template |
The “General” tab contains the following fields:
| Fields |
Description |
| Code |
Specifies the code of the plan template. |
| Type |
Specifies the type of plan template; the options are Sales, Purchasing and Financial Accounting. |
| Plan Name |
Specifies the name of the plan. |
| Description |
Specifies the description of the plan. |
| Date Filter |
Specifies the valid date filter for the plan. |
| Display by |
Specifies the time period up to which the amounts are displayed. |
| Linked tasks |
Displays the plan tasks associated with the plan. |
 |
| Fig. Global Dimension Plan Template |
The ‘Global Dimensions’ tab contains the following fields
| Fields |
Description |
| Global Dimension Code 1 |
Specifies global dimension code 1. |
| Global Dimension 1 Filter Required |
Specifies whether every plan item must be planned with dimension code 1. |
| Global Dimension 1 Filter |
Specifies whether only certain dimension values are to be planned. |
| Global Dimension Code 2 |
Specifies global dimension code 2. |
| Global Dimension 2 Filter Required |
Specifies whether every plan item must be planned with dimension code 2. |
| Global Dimension 2 Filter |
Specifies whether only certain dimension values should be planned. |
 |
| Fig. Plan Template: Plan Dimension |
The ‘Plan Dimensions’ tab contains the following fields:
| Fields |
Description |
| Plan Dimension Code 1 |
Specifies plan dimension code 1. |
| Plan Dimension Code 1 Required |
Specifies whether every plan item must be planned with plan dimension code 1. |
| Plan Dimension Filter 1 |
Specifies whether only certain dimension values are to be planned for plan dimension 1. |
| Plan Dimension Code 2 |
Specifies plan dimension code 2. |
| Plan Dimension Code 2 Required |
Specifies whether every plan item must be planned with plan dimension code 2. |
| Plan Dimension Filter 2 |
Specifies whether only certain dimension values are to be planned for plan dimension 2. |
| Plan Dimension Code 3 |
Specifies plan dimension code 3. |
| Plan Dimension Code 3 Required |
Specifies whether every plan item must be planned with plan dimension code 3. |
| Plan Dimension Filter 3 |
Specifies whether only certain dimension values are to be planned for plan dimension 3. |
| Plan Dimension Code 4 |
Specifies plan dimension code 4. |
| Plan dimension code 4 Required |
Specifies whether every plan item must be planned using plan dimension code 4. |
| Plan dimension filter 4 |
Specifies whether only certain dimension values are to be planned for plan dimension 4. |
 |
| Fig. Plan template: Additional columns |
The “Additional Columns” tab contains the following fields:
| Fields |
Description |
| Additional Column 1 |
Specifies the item type for this column. If no item type is specified, no additional column is displayed. |
| Comparison Date Formula 1 |
Defines a date formula that calculates the evaluation period. |
| Additional Caption 1 |
Defines a date formula that calculates the analysis period. |
| Additional Name 1 |
Specifies the name of the budget or plan if the ‘Additional’ column is configured to display budget or plan values. |
| Additional Column 2 |
Specifies the item type for this column. If no item type is specified, no additional column is displayed. |
| Comparison Date Formula 2 |
Defines a date formula that calculates the evaluation period. |
| Additional Caption 2 |
Defines a date formula that calculates the evaluation period. |
| Additional Name 2 |
Specifies the name of the budget or plan if the ‘Additional’ column is configured to display budget or plan values. |
The ‘Grouping’ tab contains the following fields:
| Fields |
Description |
| Grouping |
Specifies the grouping associated with this planning template. The grouping can be changed using the ‘Edit grouping’ action. |
2. Carrying out the planning
The process for carrying out the planning is the same, regardless of whether you are working with planning tasks or directly within the plan.
Structure
The plan overview is as follows:
 |
| Fig. Plan – General tab |
The General tab contains the following fields; if you are working without templates, these fields can be edited:
| Fields |
Description |
| Grouping |
Specifies the grouping used for planning. |
| Display by |
Specifies the period interval for which the values are displayed. |
| Display value as |
Specifies the format in which the values are to be displayed; this may vary depending on the planning area. |
 |
| Fig. Plan Filter tab |
The Filter tab contains the following fields; if you are working without templates, these fields can be modified.
Some of the fields are only visible in certain planning areas:
| Fields |
Description |
| Date filter |
Specifies a date filter to filter the budget amounts. |
| Plan Entry Code Filter |
Specify a plan entry code by which the plan items are filtered. |
| Global Dimension Code Filter 1 |
Specifies the filter for Global Dimension 1. |
| Global Dimension Code Filter 2 |
Specifies the filter for Global Dimension 2. |
| Plan Dimension Code Filter 1 |
Specifies the filter to filter Plan Dimension 1. |
| Plan Dimension Code Filter 2 |
Specifies the filter to filter Plan Dimension 2. |
| Plan Dimension Code Filter 3 |
Specifies the filter to filter Plan Dimension 3. |
| Plan Dimension Code Filter 4 |
Specifies the filter for Plan Dimension 4. |
| Item Filter (Sales/Purchasing) |
Specifies the filter for items. |
| Customer Filter (Sales) |
Specifies the filter for customers. |
| Vendor filter (Purchasing) |
Specifies the filter for filtering vendors. |
| General ledger account filter (Financial Accounting) |
Specifies the filter for filtering general ledger accounts. |
| General ledger account category filter (Financial Accounting) |
Specifies the filter for filtering general ledger account categories. |
| Profit and Loss Account/Balance Sheet general ledger account filter (Financial Accounting) |
Specifies the filter for filtering P&L/Balance Sheet. |
 |
| Fig. Planning matrix without grouping |
The planning matrix contains the following fields
| Fields |
Description |
| Name |
Specifies the name of the row. |
| No. |
Specifies the number of the row. |
| Additional column 1 |
Specifies an additional value that may be defined in the template or in the plan. For example, last year’s figures. |
| Additional column 2 |
Specifies an additional value that may be defined in the template or in the plan. For example, last year’s figures. |
| Allocation value |
Specifies a value that can be allocated to the periods using the ‘Allocate values’ action and time axes. |
| Planned Quantity (Purchasing/Sales) |
Specifies the total planned quantity for the row. |
| Planned Sales Amount (Sales) |
Specifies the total planned sales amount for the row. |
| Planned Purchasing Amount (Purchasing) |
Specifies the total planned purchasing amount for the row. |
| Planned Cost (Purchase/Sales) |
Indicates the total planned cost for the row. |
| Planned Amount (Financial Accounting) |
Indicates the total planned amount for the row. |
| Additional period columns |
The columns change depending on the ‘Display by’ setting. In most cases, the months are displayed here. |
Planning
Planning can be started in different ways. Either all values are entered manually, or the ‘Retrieve allocation values’ action is used.
Retrieve values
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| Fig. Retrieve allocation values |
A page opens with the following fields:
| Fields |
Description |
| Amount type |
Actual values: In the sales and purchasing plan, the actual values come from the value items. The financial plan retrieves the values from the general ledger items Plan items The values are retrieved from the selected plan Budget items The values are retrieved from the selected standard budget. |
| Budget name |
Specifies the desired plan or budget if the amount type is ‘Plan item’ or ‘Budget item’. |
| Retrieve previous year’s values |
Specifies the previous year’s plan values in the ‘Retrieve values from’ and ‘Retrieve values to’ fields. |
| Retrieve values from |
Specifies the date from which the values for the distribution value are to be totalled. |
| Retrieve values up to |
Specifies the date up to which the values for the distribution value are to be totalled. |
| Target |
Specifies the target for the values Distribution value; the values are written to the “Distribution value” field. Period value The values are written to the defined periods. |
| Factor |
Specifies a factor by which the totalled values are to be multiplied. |
 |
| Fig. Allocation Values for Plan Items |
The retrieved data is transferred, grouped according to all dimensions and the specified attributes.
Distribute values
The ‘Distribute values’ field can be used to distribute total values across the periods; to do this, the ‘Distribute values’ action is applied either to a single row or to all rows.
When the action is executed, the following page opens:
 |
| Fig. Distribute plan |
| Fields |
Description |
| Time axis template code |
Specifies how the distribution across periods should take place. Further information on time axes can be found here. |
| Distribute to items |
Specifies whether an additional distribution from the group level down to the lowest level should take place. |
If budget items already exist, the breakdown by dimensions and other characteristics is retained on a percentage basis, unless the distribution is explicitly defined using specific values.
Entering values
Values can also be entered directly into the relevant fields; in this case, all stored dimensions will be added to the items. If plan items already exist and planning is carried out without filters, the dimensions and characteristics will be retained on a percentage basis.
3. Approve the plan
If you are working with plan tasks, these must be approved.
The following actions are available for this:
| Action |
Description |
| Set to ‘Under review’ |
This action is for planners only. The status is set to ‘Under review’ and the task is therefore forwarded to the manager. |
| Approve planning task |
This action is for the manager only. The status is set to ‘Approved’ and can no longer be changed by the planner. |
| Reopen planning task |
This action is only available to the manager. The planning task is set to ‘In planning’ and must be edited by the planner. |
| Reset planning task |
This action is only available to the administrator. All planning items in the planning task are deleted, allowing the planning task’s settings to be changed again. |
Finalise planning
Once all planning tasks have been approved or the planning process has been completed, the plans can be transferred to the overall plan.
The following actions are available for this purpose in the ‘Export’ group within the plans:
| Action |
Description |
| Export to overall financial plan |
Exports the current values to the selected overall plan. |
| Export to Purchasing Plan (Sales) |
Exports the current values to the purchasing plan. This enables the purchasing department to start using the sales figures. |
| Export to Sales Plan (Purchasing) |
Exports the current values to the sales plan. This enables the sales department to start using the purchasing figures. |
| Export to Demand Planning (Sales) |
Exports the current values to Demand Planning in Business Central Standard. |